| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: the monarch in those familiar chats in which Louis XVIII. delighted as
much as in a well-written note, by his brilliant manner of repeating
political anecdotes, and the political or parliamentary tittle-tattle
--if the expression may pass--which at that time was rife. It is well
known that he was immensely amused by every detail of his
Gouvernementabilite--a word adopted by his facetious Majesty.
Thanks to the Comte de Fontaine's good sense, wit, and tact, every
member of his numerous family, however young, ended, as he jestingly
told his Sovereign, in attaching himself like a silkworm to the leaves
of the Pay-List. Thus, by the King's intervention, his eldest son
found a high and fixed position as a lawyer. The second, before the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Rezanov by Gertrude Atherton: the signal for a salute from the fort; and the Gov-
ernor-General, privy counselor and senator de
Pestel, accompanied by the civil governor, the com-
mandant, the archbishop, and a military escort, sal-
lied forth and led the guest, with the formality of
officials and the compassionate tenderness of men,
into the capital.
For three weeks longer Rezanov lay in the pal-
ace of the Governor. Between fever and lassitude,
his iron will seemed alternately to melt in the fiery
furnace of his body, then, a cooling but still viscous
Rezanov |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Padre Ignacio by Owen Wister: all. That such a one as you should be here is like a dream."
"But it is not a dream," said the Padre.
"And, sir--pardon me if I do say this--are you not wasted at Santa
Ysabel del Mar? I have seen the priests at the other missions. They are--
the sort of good men that I expected. But are you needed to save such
souls as these?"
"There is no aristocracy of souls," said the Padre, again whispering.
"But the body and the mind!" cried Gaston. "My God, are they nothing? Do
you think that they are given to us for nothing but a trap? You cannot
teach such a doctrine with your library there. And how about all the
cultivated men and women away from whose quickening society the brightest
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